UNCLE VANYA at Live Arts

Chekhov's 1897 masterpiece filled with dark humor, hidden passions, and tumultuous family dynamics. Runs in repertory with LIFE SUCKS. by Aaron Posner.

When a pretentious gouty professor and his much younger new wife—bewitching, beautiful, and oh so restless—return to his country estate, tensions escalate to the tipping point. The professor’s brother-in-law, the eponymous Ványa, and his long-suffering niece have been keeping the estate afloat for 25 years, but the professor has plans. Throw a few more intensely volatile and fascinating houseguests into the mix, plus a veritable stew of hidden frustrations and passions, and the tedium of their provincial life is upended.

“Life is a tragedy because it’s so farcical.”
–The New York Times [from a review of UNCLE VANYA]